# Gardening experts: tomato plants in a hot climate **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 13, 2003, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-experts-tomato-plants-in-a-hot-climate/213005 "2003-11-13T08:58:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-experts-tomato-plants-in-a-hot-climate/213005/1 "2003-11-13T08:58:11Z")
I bought this tomato plant from a garden centre, I have no clue what variety it is. All advice I get (the garden centre, my father, websites) say tomatoes need masses of sunlight, and should go outside in direct sunlight. The daily temperature is currently around 35c and it looks like the plant is really struggling. It’s got little flowers now, but the leaves are curling and wilted, even burnt looking at the edges. I’m giving it water round its roots every day. Is it too hot for my little plant, and what can I do if so? ---
**Author:** ![quiltguy154](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ad7895/32.png) [@quiltguy154](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy154)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-experts-tomato-plants-in-a-hot-climate/213005/2 "2003-11-13T11:25:19Z")
Is your plant in a pot, or in the ground? If it’s in a pot don’t keep a saucer underneath, that standing water may be your problem. If in the ground, water DEEPLY, but less often. Curling leaves may be signs of a disease, or overwatering, or heat stress. If the flowers fall off before setting fruit, it’s too hot for the plant. Give it a bit of shade if you can. Chances are the variety is OK for your locality. 6-8 hours of sunlight is sufficient. Pollinators are not necessary to get a crop. Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2003, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-experts-tomato-plants-in-a-hot-climate/213005/3 "2003-11-13T14:05:57Z")
Too much water kills more plants than any other gardening mistake. Make sure you are not overwatering because the roots will rot away. My neighbor used to have luscious tomato plans yielding huge tomatoes but when i tried to do the same thing I failed miserably. You need to have the right combination of soil, sun, water and green thumb. I buy my tomatoes at the store. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-experts-tomato-plants-in-a-hot-climate/213005/4 "2003-11-14T09:27:36Z")
Thanks for all the advice. It seems I may be murdering it with water. I have now taken it out of its saucer of water (it is in a pot, and I plan to get a larger pot or a growbag) and it is now inside my living room, next to the window in full sunlight, but much less hot. ---
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-experts-tomato-plants-in-a-hot-climate/213005/5 "2003-11-15T06:37:16Z")
You may also have verticillium wilt, which will kill off leaves, but leave things like fruit alone. Are the leaves turning yellow at their margins first, progressing inward, and then drying up and turning brown? Also, did it start with the lowest leaves and progress up and outwards? The inside tissues may be discolored. If so, that may be it. If it is verticillium, then there’s no cure for it. You can minimize it by giving the plant infrequent but deep watering. Soil can be fumigated for the fungus by calling a specialist who uses either chloropicrin (tear gas) or methyl-bromide. If not you may be rotting out the roots. Tomatoes need a well drained soil, and actually the best tasting ones have deep but infrequent watering. They’ll grow quite well in sand also (i’ve grown them in the sand we have here and they tasted fine, a bit smaller than typical but still good). But tomatoes are highly succeptible to verticillium, as are potatoes, cotton, strawberries, and many melons. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-experts-tomato-plants-in-a-hot-climate/213005/6 "2003-11-15T08:03:08Z")
Oh no I think it might be that wilt. Damn damn damn. Poor little plant. It also appears to have nodules along its stem. I’m not really doing very well at my first attempt at gardening am I? ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Doobieous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Doobieous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doobieous)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-experts-tomato-plants-in-a-hot-climate/213005/7 "2003-11-15T12:01:15Z")
Well, the most you can do is to not plant anything succeptible there, or, hire a fumigator to come in for it. If you still want to grow tomatoes, try growing them in pots, but use potting soil and by all means do not use any soil from your garden. If you used any garden tools on the tomatoes, sterilize them (a bleach solution should do well, soak over night). Tomatoes are nice in that they do well in containers. I’ve seen people growing them in bags of potting soil with a hole cut in one side and holes punched on the other to allow water to escape. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gardening-experts-tomato-plants-in-a-hot-climate/213005/8 "2003-11-15T20:00:54Z")
> [@](#): > > Is it too hot for my little plant Yup, it sure is. I’ve never tried to grow tomatoes in the Arabian desert, but I’ve grown plenty of them in Illinois and yeah, a consistent temperature of 35 C, being 96 F, is just too hot for tomatoes, plus the sun is too bright. That direction for “full sun” means “full sun in a temperate climate”, not “full sun in the desert”. Your plant was wilting because its water uptake through the roots just couldn’t keep up with the water loss from the leaves due to the heat. > [@](#): > > and what can I do if so? Google things like “grow tomatoes desert”. [http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/swest/msg0222495530978.html](http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/swest/msg0222495530978.html) > [@](#): > > We’ve grown tomatoes for a couple of years in Phoenix. The altitude here is 1000’ and of course it gets hot here too. We found watering at night reduces the likelihood of the fruit splitting. I amend the soil heavily with organic material the previous fall. We have to get the tomatoes started by February since the heat really reduces the yield on some varieties. The plants that have done best through the summer for us are cherry tomatoes. We have to use shade cloth after mid-April. > > \< snip \> > > The heat is usually what gets to tomatoes even in the shade. Heat reflected from a wall can be just as damaging as direct sun. I found it best to cover the plants top, south and particularly west. I built a frame out of pvc on the raised bed and attached the shade cloth with cable ties. I used the heaviest sun blocking cloth at the nursery. The also sell it at home improvement stores. I didn’t shop around for price. We grew some green bell peppers in the same raised bed and it looks like they will make it through the winter. They’ve been producing peppers since last June. They have even survived two horn worm infestations. See the below link. We’re thinking of buying some seed from these guys. [http://www.knpr.org/dbloom/detail.cfm?FeatureID=2374](http://www.knpr.org/dbloom/detail.cfm?FeatureID=2374) > [@](#): > > For instance, if the plant produces flowers, but the temperature then goes much above 90°, or much below 55°, well then the plant is stressed, and it’s stressed to such an extent that it can’t support flowers, much less fruit. > **[Las Vegas News | Breaking News & Headlines | Las Vegas Review-Journal](https://www.reviewjournal.com)** > > The Las Vegas Review-Journal is Nevada's most trusted source for local news, Las Vegas sports, business news, gaming news, entertainment news and more. > [@](#): > > The tomato is by far the United States’ favorite vegetable, because it is such a heavy producer and it meets so many of the family’s needs. But we have difficulty growing it in Las Vegas because of the summer heat. > > \< snip \> > > Tomato flowers also fall off when day temperatures exceed 90 degrees. The blooms that set when it’s colder don’t when it’s on the hot side. You can help set fruit by directing a strong force of water at the blossoms. The added moisture raises the humidity and lowers the temperature, so they set. Once it gets over 100 degrees, they won’t set at all and the flowers will drop. > > \< snip \> > > Plant in protected area: Plant tomatoes in a protected area with some shade to reduce the incidence of curly top virus and sunburn. We find leafhoppers, which carry this virus, do not visit shaded areas. But remember, tomatoes will not grow in dark places. If you do plant in direct sun, find ways to cover the plants. Close plantings also will allow the plants to protect themselves from the blistering sun.